The Boston Globe reports that she resigned a day before a scheduled disciplinary hearing that would likely have ended in her dismissal.

"Although I have had a personally rewarding career with the Massachusetts Probation Service, it is in the best interest of my family that I submit this resignation so that my family can begin to move forward from the recent events," Tavares wrote in a resignation letter submitted to Ronald Corbett, Jr., the department's acting commissioner.

Following the report's release in November, the state's Supreme Judicial Court, which commissioned the Ware Report, issued a statement recommending O'Brien be terminated and Tavares, Deputy Commissioner Francis M. Wall, and Deputy Commissioner and Legal Counsel Christopher J. Bulger be placed on administrative leave "pending the conclusion of disciplinary proceedings."

mass.govFormer First Deputy Commissioner Elizabeth Tavares.

Tavares' testimony

The Ware Report, which you can read in full here, includes testimony from Tavares regarding the allegedly rigged hiring practices of the department.

As the report describes it, "O'Brien gave Tavares the names of the candidates he wanted to select for the vacant positions to be certain this final interview panel ranked those candidates at the top of the list."

Included in the report is this transcript of her testimony:

Q. And so the Commissioner would say, tell Fran Wall that
these are the people I want to see get ranked the highest at his review level?

A. Yeah, take a good look at them, kind of thing.

Q. And when you say, "take a good look at them," presumably
they're taking a good look at everybody, right?

A. Presumably, but I think the folks that are recommended, maybe a more keen eye towards them.

Q. And it was you understanding that the Commissioner was really intending you to pass along, these are the people that I want to see at the top of the list?

A. I think so.

Most of the key players named in the report — O'Brien, Wall, retired Deputy Commissioner Patricia Walsh, former House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran and Rep. Petrolati — refused to testify. The Ware Report indicates that after initially providing testimony, Tavares later followed suit.

Ware told The Globe that Tavares' decision to resign was "consistent with my findings, and I believe it is in the best interests of the Probation Department." Read more »